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Asked about JAG CT students’ performance at our first Career Development Conference, judges had high praise:

“Calm, positive and articulate.”

“Listened and considered others’ suggestions.”

“Excellent first impression, very personable.”

These and other detailed comments were shared with students and Specialists after the Tuesday event, which drew 150 students and nearly 50 volunteers and observers to Capital Community College in Hartford. The event marked the first time students from all seven JAG CT partner schools came together, to compete in the professional skills they are learning, as well as practice their networking skills and learn from a Career Panel and other guest speakers.

“I was absolutely blown away by the stories and struggles behind the speeches the students gave today,” said Rep. Jeff Currey, one of the Public Speaking Judges.

Students competed in Public Speaking, Employability Skills, Career Planning, Problem Solving and Critical Thinking. Speakers included State of Connecticut Department of Labor Commissioner Scott Jackson, pictured at right; Department of Correction Commissioner Scott Semple; Capital Community College President Wilfredo Nieves; Senator Gary Winfield; and Sgt. Sean Grant of the Manchester Police Department. Click here for the full agenda for the day. Reps. Mark Tweedie and Henry Genga also served as judges and presented the Outstanding Students awards.

Several JAG CT students were honored for their commitment and accomplishments in demonstrating JAG’s values of Accountability, Attitude, Perseverance and Teamwork. Click here for the event program, containing a listing of Outstanding Student bios and for judge and volunteer biographies.

Career Panel member Tina Longo of the New Britain Hospital for Special Care, who spoke about the growing number of health care jobs, said she enjoyed the event and would return.

“It was a pleasure being there,” she said. “The best part of it all was the handful of students that came to introduce themselves and asked additional questions. That is the glimpse of light that shines to demonstrate that this program is and will be effective for these students!”

HARTFORD — Mayor Luke Bronin and Superintendent Beth Schiavino-Narvaez joined JAG CT students, Hartford Public High School staff, and others Monday to thank AT&T Connecticut President John Emra for AT&T’s support in expanding JAG into Hartford.

“I am grateful that I have been part of the JAG program,” said Jennifer Candelora, who is enrolled in JAG at Hartford Public High School, and was part of JAG at East Hartford High School before transferring to HPHS. “Since I joined I have been prepared to leave high school with great background knowledge on how to pursue my future career goals. JAG is a sense of hope for people who have no hope. I would recommend this program to all high school seniors.”

“Your support for this program will go a long way to making sure we can be there for students who need it the most,” said Mayor Luke Bronin. “This is exactly the kind of partnership we need to make sure we are preparing students for a successful career and future.”

“Partnerships like these are key to establish strong connections between our schools and their surrounding business community,” said Superintendent Beth Schiavino-Narvaez. “Hartford Public Schools thanks AT&T for making this important contribution. We hope that this new program will improve our rising rates of success for at-risk youth.”

“We are encouraged by the recent news that for the first time we are on a path to reach a 90 percent national graduation rate by 2020, but we also know there is more work to be done,” said John Emra, President of AT&T Connecticut. “Bringing to scale programs like JAG that are making a measurable impact on the students that need it most is one of the key ways we can stay on track to meet our graduation goal and prepare more students for the jobs of tomorrow.”

Martin Estey, Executive Director of the Hartford Consortium for Higher Education, and Marco Tirillo, Assistant Principal at Hartford Public High School, were also in attendance.

Since 2008, AT&T and the AT&T Foundation have provided more than $6 million in funding to JAG and its local affiliates. This support is part of AT&T Aspire, AT&T’s $350 million signature education initiative that drives innovation in education to promote student success in school and beyond.

New Haven– Students in my New Horizons’ JAG class have been researching and learning about various fields of life skills. Topics included financial literacy, life, health and auto insurance, budgeting and the importance of documents such as passports, state ID’s and birth certificates.

Students in my JAG classes were assigned with a project in which they were to pick a topic we have been recently focusing on and ‘teach it’ to the class. Sophomore Walnaesha Teabout is seen here assisting a student in searching for and applying for a local part time job. Ms. Teabout chose to teach our class how to search for jobs using popular job search websites, like indeed.com. She did such a wonderful job instructing her peers. It takes confidence and skill to present in front of peers and Walnaesha did so with tact and patience.

This project exercises several of the 37 competencies of the Jag senior model, including delivering a presentation to a group; communicating verbally; and demonstrating team leadership.